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PM files nomination from Lucknow
Prime Minister Vajpayee filed his nomination on Thursday for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Lucknow constituency.
While Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee filed his nomination in Lucknow on Thursday, speculation grew on whether Ram Jethmalani, whose candidature against the PM is backed by the Congress, would heed Vajpayee's advice to step aside.
The PM's nomination was a low-key affair, with Lalji Tandon, linked to Tuesday's stampede tragedy, acting as one of the proposers. He will, however, not be Vajpayee's election agent; party president Venkaiah Naidu said an agent would be appointed soon. Vajpayee followed the filing of papers with a hawan at his election office and a rally, where he pledged there would not be a repeat of the sari-distribution tragedy.
As for the PM's opposition, though the Congress said Jethmalani would not withdraw, it put Plan B into action. Rajya Sabha member Akhilesh Das, son of former UP Chief Minister Banarsi Das Gupta, also filed his papers, so that the Congress had a standby candidate in case Jethmalani stepped aside.
The senior lawyer is in London where his son Janak is ill, and he is to address a press conference on Friday morning. Indian circles there asked whether Jethmalani would be able to go through with the contest in view of the family problem.
Jethmalani's other son Mahesh told HT in Mumbai that he had always advised his father not to contest against Vajpayee. Following the PM's plea on Wednesday to step aside, Mukesh said he reiterated his advice to his father. The senior Jethmalani responded by saying he would get back to Mahesh in a couple of days.
The Congress hit out at Vajpayee for putting Jethmalani in a dilemma. Party spokesman Kapil Sibal called in "a stigma and a blot".
Nonetheless, Vajpayee's nomination was a smooth affair, with Tandon proposing the PM's name a fifth time for the Lok Sabha election. Party sources said Tandon would not be the election agent as he was the Opposition leader in the UP State assembly.
Later, the PM addressed a gathering and expressed condolence to the bereaved families of those who died in the stampede: "We take a pledge that we will not allow such tragic incidents to recur in the future." He also said he was reluctant to contest, but had been pressurised by “friends, colleagues and alliance partners”.
